JAPAN - HOME SHIRT 2012
Japan's national team are Asian football's standard-bearers, representing a nation whose transformation from amateur outsider to continental superpower has been one of football's great modern stories. Affectionately known as Samurai Blue and playing in their iconic deep blue home shirt, the Japanese are four-time AFC Asian Cup champions (1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011), 2002 FIFA World Cup co-hosts, and a side that has qualified for every World Cup since their tournament debut in 1998.
This legacy has been shaped by legendary figures such as Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Yasuhito Endo, Keisuke Honda, Shinji Okazaki, and Shinji Kagawa, whose brilliance has defined Japanese football across generations.
Japan wore this iconic home shirt throughout 2012 under Italian manager Alberto Zaccheroni - the former AC Milan title-winner who had taken charge in 2010 and led the side to AFC Asian Cup glory in Qatar the year before. The campaign featured a flying 2014 World Cup qualifying push that confirmed Samurai Blue's place as Asia's premier side, alongside notable friendly fixtures including a chastening 0-4 defeat to Brazil at the Stadium Letzigrund in Zürich. The squad combined experienced internationals like Yasuhito Endo and Makoto Hasebe with a striking new generation built around Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa - freshly signed by Manchester United that summer - and the silk-touched Inter Milan full-back Yuto Nagatomo.
As of 2026, Japan are heading to the FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as one of the tournament's genuine dark horses, qualifying for an eighth consecutive finals. Drawn into Group F alongside the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden, Samurai Blue open their campaign against the Dutch in Dallas on 14 June. With a squad captained by Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo and built around Real Sociedad winger Takefusa Kubo, Daichi Kamada and defenders Ko Itakura and Hiroki Ito - though missing the injured Kaoru Mitoma and Takumi Minamino - Hajime Moriyasu's side travel to North America aiming to break new ground and reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
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